Volturno River, Italian Fiume Volturno, Latin Volturnus, river, south-central Italy. It rises in the Abruzzese Apennines near Alfedena and flows southeast as far as its junction with the Calore River near Caiazzo. It then turns southwest, past Capua, to enter the Tyrrhenian Sea at Castel Volturno, northwest of Naples. The river is 109 miles (175 km) long and has a drainage basin of 2,100 square miles (5,450 square km). In the 1950s a dam was built a short distance upstream from Capua, regulating the Volturno’s discharge and creating a reliable supply of irrigation water.

Volturno River at Capua, Italy.

Agostino Pedata

Since the Volturno flows at right angles to the main roads connecting Rome and Naples, it has had considerable military importance. During the wars for Italian unity, the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi defeated a Neapolitan army there in 1860. During World War II, German forces in southern Italy used the Volturno as their line of defense after the fall of Naples, until the U.S. 5th Army crossed the river on Oct. 13, 1943. The upper Volturno River valley fell into Allied hands with the capture of Isernia by the British on Nov. 8, 1943.

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...down from the Apennines through Molise, Abruzzo, and Marche regions. The rivers that flow into the Tyrrhenian Sea are longer and more complex and carry greater quantities of water. These include the Volturno, in Campania; the Roman Tiber; and the Arno, which flows through Florence and Pisa. The rivers of the Ligurian rivieras are mainly short and swift-flowing; a few are important simply because...

...range before flowing through Rome to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Arno (155 miles), which flows westerly from the Tuscan-Emilian range through Florence to the Ligurian Sea. Also significant is the Volturno (109 miles), which rises in the Abruzzi Apennines near Alfedena and flows southeast as far as its junction with the Calore River near Caiazzo and then turns southwest to enter the Tyrrhenian...